ADA,
Ohio – Corn growers thinking about planting decisions for the 2013 season and debating
whether to use drought-tolerant hybrids or conventional hybrids may want to
consider how drought-resistant hybrids respond to typical growing conditions as
well as in drought-stressed conditions, an Ohio State University Extension
expert said.

While
new drought-tolerant corn hybrids are marketed to provide a margin of
protection in drought-stressed conditions as well as non-drought-stressed
conditions, growers can benefit from gaining more perspective on the issue,
considering that Ohio in a typical year can experience stress from extreme
cold, extreme rain or extreme drought, said Peter Thomison, an OSU Extension agronomist.

Such decisions are crucial as
growers prepare for the upcoming planting season, many of whom were hard-hit by
the 2012 drought that left farmers nationwide with losses and lower yields due
to the worst dry conditions in nearly 50 years.

“Growers are aware
that weather can have major impact on the practices they pick, and they want to
limit their exposure,”
he said. “Some growers will view the 2012 growing season as an aberration
and continue their traditional practices.

“If
they’re using best management practices, that’s fine. But I think that as many
growers are hearing more about climate change and the potential for more
erratic weather conditions, they don’t want to use growing practices that count
on good growing conditions and are looking at ways they can weather-proof their
crops.”

Thomison will talk about the 2012 growing season and new tools
growers have for managing drought during a presentation March 6 at the
Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference. The conference, which runs
March 5-6, is offered
by OSU Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). OSU
Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of Ohio
State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Thomison’s presentation is a part of Corn University, a series of
presentations that Thomison will also moderate, in which agronomists from the
University of Illinois, Purdue University and the University of Nebraska will
address pressing issues of interest to corn farmers and agriculture industry
representatives.

Topics
will include seeding rates for maximum yield and planter set-up for maximum
yields, Thomison said.

An
overall goal of Corn University is to help growers gain perspective, he said.

“There
are a lot of new products and issues out there, and (CTC) allows growers to
hear presentations from university specialists in an effort to integrate these
issues and put them into perspective in terms of their importance,” Thomison
said. “We want to see long-term data, compare it to existing products and provide
more insight and perspective in terms of what is happening in corn planting.”

Some
of the issues include the question of whether drought-resistant hybrids will produce
protection on drought as well as typical growing conditions and whether drought
tolerant hybrids can handle higher plant populations better than traditional
hybrids, he said.

The
presentations will also focus on other traditional approaches growers can use to
managing drought stress, including switching to a corn-soybean rotation for
those growers who experienced low yields because of continuous corn growing.
Other issues include growers choosing to cut their seeding rates to not push
growing higher populations because of increased risk.

###

Note: The Conservation
Tillage and Technology Conference is March 5-6 at the McIntosh Center
of Ohio Northern University in Ada. The full schedule and registration
information is at http://ctc.osu.edu. Participants may register online or by mail.
Registration for the full conference is $85 (or $65 for one day) if received by
Feb. 27.

Information is also
available in county offices of OSU Extension.

The conference is
sponsored by OSU Extension, OARDC, Northwest Ohio Soil and Water Conservation
Districts, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Ohio
No-Till Council.